Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond is informing the public of a recent scam that his agency has uncovered. This new scam involves bonding companies doing business at the county jail.
The sheriff is reporting that legitimate bonding companies have been getting arrestees out of jail, but after all the financial transactions were completed, some families started receiving calls from subjects who identified themselves as bonding company employees. These scammers are telling the family members they owe more money to the bonding company and ask for their credit card numbers to make the additional transaction.
Sheriff Hammond is advising the public that this is certainly a scam, and that anyone who might receive such a call should:
- question that call as a possible scam
- do not give their credit card information to anyone over the phone
- to call the original bonding company immediately to report this action.
If one can capture the phone number of the caller, that information should be turned over to the sheriff’s office at 209-8940.
The Dalton Police Department got a report from a Dalton resident of a phone scammer who called claiming to be from the United States government. The scammer said he was from the Government Grants office and had a grant of $9,000 to give to the complainant, and all that the complainant had to do to get the money was to give the caller a bank account or credit card number to deposit the money.
Fortunately, the potential victim in this case recognized this call as a scam and disconnected. The number listed on caller ID was 202 381-2728 which is indeed a Washington, DC area code but when called it is not a working number. Phone scammers can fake their number on caller ID. Shortly after posting a notice about this scam on the DPD Facebook page, another Dalton resident commented on the post and reported receiving a call from the same number, so the scammer appears to be calling numbers in the area.